Little Stormtrooper
by EKG and the monitor
Summary: The Solo family celebrates a special Halloween. Modern AU Inspired by artwork in Jeffrey Brown's Darth Vader and Son


Halloween was never a good time for Leia. With schedule encompassing meetings at the Senate everyday, she was lucky if she could ever get home at a normal time. Even on holidays.

However, this year she was able to sneak away from all the pomp and politics and be apart of the evening's festivities with her family. Since she didn't know she would be home that night until a few hours before, she didn't have a costume on hand to wear while trick-or-treating with her son. This only worried her for a while as after having a few drinks with her husband, she concluded that throwing an old evening dress, putting a tiara on her head, and calling herself a princess was as good a costume as any.

She couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of seeing her little Ben in his costume. He was just about to turn five years old and Leia had never been able to spend Halloween with him. Something always came up and by the time she would get home, he'd be tucked in and fast asleep. Looking at pictures of him that Han took was her only chance at seeing him in his outfit.

This year he picked out what he was going to be and Leia wasn't allowed to know. She had pestered her husband to tell her what he had chosen, but the damn fool and her son were as thick as thieves. She couldn't get him to betray their only child.

Her and Han were standing in the kitchen, her pouring bag after bag of chocolate bars into a plastic cauldron while he was getting finished with carving up a plump jack-o-lantern. Ben had come bolting into the room, a full black trash bag in one hand and a bright orange pail in the other. His curly, untamed black locks sticking up as though they had been rubbed down with the most static-covered balloons imaginable.

The boy's tiny hands gripped at the hem of his father's pants, gaining the attention he desperately craved.

Han leaned down to listen in as Ben whispered into his ear. Pulling away and nodding once to his son, Han stowed the large carving knife in his hand away. He started walking towards the house's back door, the raven haired boy pushing past his father to the door.

Leia looked upon the two, "And where do you think you're going?"

"Out," her son answered in an uninterested and near monotone voice. He was dead set on getting outside as quickly as possible. He didn't even turn to look at her when he spoke.

"We'll be back," Han said to his wife as he chased after Ben.

Leia stood by as the door slid closed. As much as she wanted to know what the hell was going on between them, she figured their secrecy would break down soon enough. She shrugged and went back to stuffing the cauldron full of sweets.

A few minutes later, the much too loud doorbell chimed, warning Leia that the night's first trick-or-treaters had just arrived. She latched onto the cauldron, placing it underneath her arm as she strode across the living room to the front door.

Turning the doorknob and pulling the door open, Leia was shocking to find Han standing off to the side of the home's front steps while a small child clad in a stormtrooper uniform stood dead center of the entryway.

A switch turned on in Leia's head, making her realize that her little Benny was standing before her.

Just as she figured out who the masked kid was, the sound of a plastic bucket being swung around grabbed her attention.

"Trick or treat," Ben's little voice cried, almost muffled out by the large helmet he wore.

She stared as her son waited impatiently for her to fill his bag up with the delicious treats she had underneath her arm. Leia could only chuckle at the sight.

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

Ben's highly raised hands drifted downwards to his sides, his empty bucket hitting the ground with a thud.

"Oh, oh honey, I'm- I'm sorry…" Leia desperately trying to soothe her son's despair. She knelt down, rubbing the boy's shoulders as through the ill-fitting helmet, she could hear Ben begin to sniffle back tears.

"You're okay…" she said. "You're big enough to be a stormtrooper."

As her attempts at calming him down seemed to have failed, the child's gloved hand slowly reached up to Leia's head. Since the child was still a little too small to touch the top of her head while she was kneeling, he thus forced to stand on the very tips of his toes.

Leia felt him push her head down, making the already sitting woman scrunch down so that she was eye level to the tike.

"Now you're too short to be a princess."

A quick huff of breath slipped from the mother's nose, her deep red lips forming a snide smile at the little boy's remark. She couldn't help but break out into laughter as her son kept pushing her down lower to the ground. Her arms latched onto the boy as she toppled over, his helmet falling off revealing that the boy had begun to laugh helplessly alongside his mother.

Han leaned against the front door's frame as he watched his wife roll around on the top step, tickling their son. He couldn't help but laugh himself as the two's faces both turned bright red from their squabbling.


End file.
